
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 4, 1994                   TAG: 9402040030
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON TO YOUTH: SEX IS RESPONSIBILITY, NOT SPORT

Sounding almost like a father talking to his kids, President Clinton on Thursday bluntly told students at a tough, inner-city junior high school here: "Don't give up on yourselves."

In a candid message clearly aimed at a broader audience, Clinton told the young people they must take personal responsibility for their lives, especially when it comes to sex and parenthood.

The president told the girls to "make up your mind you're not going to have a baby until you're old enough to take care of it and until you're married."

To the boys, Clinton was equally direct: Having sex and fathering children "is not a sport, this is a solemn responsibility.

"Is it right or wrong if you're a boy to get some girl pregnant and then forget about it?" Clinton asked 300 students at Kramer Junior High School in crime-ridden, drug-infested southeast Washington. "I think it's wrong. . . . It's something you pay for the rest of your life. You carry that in the back of your head: Somewhere there's some child out there you didn't take care of who's in terrible shape because of something you didn't do."

Clinton went on to say that being a mother is "the most important thing any person can do. But when you do it, you ought to do it when it's right: When it's right for you, when it's right for the child and when you can do it right."

In a comment that seemed to reflect his own life, Clinton told the youths that being married and having a family are hard but worthwhile endeavors.

"Once you get married, people have to realize they're going to have to ride through some tough times to keep the family together," Clinton said. "When you make a commitment to it, you need to do everything you can to hang in there with it all the way because it makes life much more meaningful. Life is lonely enough as it is. And if you have a family and you have people that are helping you, it makes a huge difference and it makes life better."

by CNB